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The bottom appears to be falling out on the Cleveland Browns’ extremely cursed Deshaun Watson experiment, as the team sits at 1-4, with Watson, in particular, looking like a broken player.
Through five games this season, has completed 60.2% of his passes for 852 yards, 5 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions. Those five touchdowns bring the total number of TDs he’s thrown as a member of the Browns to 19, which is actually four less than the number of lawsuits he’s settled since Cleveland traded for him in 2022 (23).
Deshaun Watson has more settled lawsuits (23) than touchdown passes (19) since being traded to the Browns
— James Dator (@James_Dator) October 8, 2024
The issue that the Browns face with Watson is that they’re only in the third year of the fully-guaranteed five-year, $230 million deal they gave him in 2022. In 2025 and 2026, Watson has cap hits of $72,935,000, making him essentially untradeable.
While Browns fans and sports media have been calling for the team to bench Watson in favor of backup Jameis Winston, ESPN NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky doesn’t believe that will happen because he thinks ownership is forcing head coach Kevin Stefanski to play Watson, likely due to his contract.
“The Cleveland Browns are in the worst situation in pro sports. They’re done and so is Deshaun Watson. If you want to see a situation where the head coach has absolutely no say of who’s playing on the field, it’s happening in Cleveland,” Orlovsky said on Monday following the Browns’ 34-13 loss to the Washington Commanders.
“Kevin Stefanski is a two-time coach of the year. He is a brilliant offensive mind, and this offense looks nothing like the offense he won two-time coach of the year with. “They’re in an awful situation. And by every measure, if you just watch the game, and then you look at the stats, their offensive performance and, specifically, Deshaun Watson’s offensive performance is the worst in the NFL. They’re done… They should have benched him Week 1.”
Watson and the Browns will look to get their second win of the season when they head to Philadelphia to take on the Eagles in Week 6.